Wednesday, November 25, 2009

WAITING FOR WINTER (PICTURE BOOK) and WHAT BOOKS SAVED YOUR LIFE?

PICTURE BOOK

WAITING FOR WINTER by Sebastian Meschenmoser (Kane Miller) Squirrel determines not to hunker down in a hole in his tree this year but instead wait for the first snowfall, which he has never seen. He's soon joined by a sleepy hedgehog, who joins him in sea shanties to stay awake, which rouses a lumbering bear who decides to also wait for the snow (and the peace and quiet it will imply). What does snow look like? It's white and soft and wet and cold; this, they know, from a passing deer. But none of them can anticipate the miracle of the real thing.

There are two enormous strengths of this book. One is the art: quick sketches of animals that are so expressive and active, the work of someone who has observed the natural world very carefully, bringing to mind the attentiveness in the sketchbooks of the late Robert McCloskey (right). That said, Meschenmoser is funnier, sketchier, looser. The look of the bear is one we have seen on many a father who can't get some rest on his one day off. The double-page spread of the squirrel making rounds on a tree branch is such that you can practically hear the nails against the bark. And even in the opening pages, where we see a raven lighting on a bough and the squirrel balanced precariously on the extended arm of a tree, the woods are so perfectly evoked. All of this is done with light, mostly brown and black graphite/pencil drawings, each line graceful as the falling of a last leaf. Granted, the soft lines make it visually a little hard to share with a group of children, but worth the effort, especially for city kids who will not experience so fine a representation another way. The second strength of the book is the pacing. Pages with text are interspersed with wordless stretches, as befitting both the setting and the story's arc. No page is left unturned; from the v-shaped formation of birds in migration on the front endpapers to the back endpapers with two humans wondering about an odd snowman, every piece of paper put to good use. The animals' Dada-esque imaginings of what winter will look like will have readers laughing out loud, and the anticipation of celebration builds until the last pages, when the snow finally begins to fall. This book captures a feeling of surprise that I have seen only in the faces of children who have moved from the south to the north and experience snow for the first time. With imagination, humor and beauty, this book is a subtle wonder. (5 and up)

"Hey," said Duck. "I see New York City.""Hey," said Other Duck. "I see Washington D.C.!""Hey," said Moose. "I've got to pee!"

When Moose's best laid plans for pancakes are thwarted, he decides to join his mallard mates for a change of pace and a shlep from chilly New Hampshire to sunny Florida. Philosopher Lao Tzu suggested, "A good traveler has no fixed plans," and fittingly, the only thing on these animals' minds is having a good time. Who wouldn't want to join that itinerary? This author continues to put himself on the map as a master of funny books a la James Marshall, with colorful cartoon illustrations, a broad sense of humor (anyone who names a character "Other Duck" is all right with me), and a cast of animals with recognizably child-like qualities. Before you hop in the car to visit relatives, take this, the best road trip since Easy Rider. (5 and up)

ACORNS EVERYWHERE by Kevin Sherry (Dial) If you like the Disney Ice Agesquirrels, you'll love the frenetic, goggle-eyed energy of this little guy, making hay (and acorn piles) while the sun shines, navigating through the perils of berry-eating bears and mercenary mice. Now, if he could only remember where he put them...? Short and nutty, this book is a good one-liner in a longer read-aloud routine, hopefully including Adam Rubin's THOSE DARN SQUIRRELS, Brian Wildsmith's beautifully rendered nonfiction tribute to SQUIRRELS, and the tender and ticklish look at hibernation, A LITTLE BIT OF WINTER by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell. (5 and up)

On a personal note:Happy Thanksgiving! Make your own edible cornicopia crudité here. I like sesame seeds on mine.

The genius cartoonist Lynda J. Barry once said, "you know when you're, like, 'that book saved my life!' Well, it probably did." Do you know that feeling? Not just a favorite book, but the book that after you've read it, your life will never be the same, your path was changed, your world view was altered? Or a book that made you laugh when you needed to laugh, helped you to see, helped you to endure? Now's your chance: give thanks to the books or authors, artists or teachers who saved your life. It's good karma! Here's just a few of mine, both adults and children's books from different times of my life that meant the world to me, changed my brain and changed my trajectory:

Roald Dahl...Caroline Feller Bauer...Beverly Cleary...Tove Jannson...Nathaniel Hawthorne...Randall Jarrell...Richard Scarry...Janusz Korczak...Eleanor Estes...I could go on and on and on, books and authors and artists and poems and pictures...What odd, chance meetings! Of all the books in the world, this one, or that one! I am so grateful for the serendipity of these connections, grateful that every day holds the chance that I might encounter a book that meets me where I am, that redirects my purpose, that helps me see anew, that refreshes my optimism. So many books...the chances are good, we are bound to encounter the blessing of our own transformations if we just keep turning those pages! I am so grateful that I will never be as bored or lonely as someone who can't read, I am so blessed to be in the position to clue others in to this magic spell of words that manifest worlds and cross space and time. This day and every day, be thankful you have the capacity to read, and teach, and share, and receive, and make, and love, and imagine! What an embarrassment of blessings and riches. Thank you to books!

This tells my age, but...A Wrinkle in Time, The Betsy-Tacy Books, Anne of Green Gables series, The Narnia books, Little Britches, Little House on the Prairie, and yes, A tree Grows in Brooklyn. These are the books that I remember reading not only once but twice and in some cases three times. No wonder I'm old fashioned!

My favorite winter squirrel book is Miss Suzy by Miriam Young. I recently read Acorns Everywhere for Story time and the kids loved it. The book that changed my life/made me fall in love with science fiction was Away is a Strange Place to Be by H.M. Hoover. Not a stupendous book, but it changed the way I thought fiction could be as a kid. I'm thankful for fun sci-fi.

About Me

Welcome to the Wonderful World of PlanetEsme! I'm a professional readiologist™ who thinks children's trade literature and read-aloud is our best hope for equalizing education in America. I hope this book-a-day plan will be a boon to anyone who would like to play a supporting character in a child's reading life story. This blog is a supporting page to sister site PlanetEsme.com, where you will find a silly amount of additional reviews, thematic lists, links, and much more...everything you need to become an expert in children's literature.

PlanetEsme Classic Archive (1999-2005)

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